"Relatively soon, I will die. Maybe in 20 years, maybe tomorrow, it doesn't matter. Once I am dead and everyone who knew me dies too, it will be as though I never existed. What difference has my life made to anyone. None that I can think of. None at all." Begley was born Ludwik Begleiter in a region that at that was part of the Polish Republic, but is now part of the Ukraine. On the run from the Germans, his mother and he used forged identity papers that enabled them to pretend to be Polish Catholics. They were among a very small number of Jews who escaped the genocide that occurred in Poland. He came to America and graduated with honors from Harvard University. He published his first novel at age 58, so there is still hope for me yet. I have heard Louis Begley compared favorably to Cheever, Updike, and Bellow. After reading this book, my first foray into the Begley canon, I understand those comparisons. The New York Times Book Review refers to "his exceptional literary intelligence." I don't disagree; the pages brim with exceptional vocabulary and dialogue. The Publishers Weekly said "A powerful story of a man's fall from grace." Okay first of all if anything this is the story of a man's emergence. "Fall from Grace?", seriously, whoever the reviewer was obviously did not read the same book as I did. This quote is off the paperback edition so maybe this Publishers Weekly reviewer watched the movie instead of reading the book. I have not seen the movie, but I hear the plot is light years away from the book. The other quote on the back of the paperback is "Comical, tough, unsparing; it is as if Louis Auchincloss had exchanged the kid gloves for brass knuckles...interesting and nervy." Okay, a reviewer using Louis Auchincloss, who I have never read, but who was an East Coast writer who liked to write about lawyers, bankers and investors. I guess this reviewer liked the tie in with the fact that Schmidt is a retired lawyer only giving Begley more chops by bringing in the brass knuckles reference. Comical, well a little, tough ehhh not really, unsparing okay I'll give him that, the book is convincingly honest. Nervy? Implying ground breaking or scandalous? Uhhhh NO not really. Schmidt or Schmidtie as most of his associates call him is going through a mid-life crisis. His wife has died. His firm has negotiated him into early retirement. His daughter is getting married and he has this house he wants to give them, a little hacienda worth about $2million, and yet he is mystified to find his daughter and future son-in-law actually cold to the idea. He does not like his future son-in-law, Jon Riker, who happens to be Jewish, and yet because he doesn't like him Schmidtie is accused of being anti-semitic. I have to say given the fact that he gave Jon a leg up at his own firm, vaulting him into a partnership position I find it hard to understand the anti-semitic references. Sometimes people just don't like other people regardless of ethnicity or gender. Sometimes they just don't like them because they don't think they are right for their little girl. Schmidtie develops a crush on this very young, Puerto Rican waitress and is stunned when his affections are reciprocated. She is involved with another young man, but she has a history of involvement with older men. She is 20 and our erstwhile hero Schmidtie is a grey haired, but robust 60. Schmidtie's ability to perform sexually gives me hope for the future. He rises to the occasion as often as Carrie wants him to. The book may stray a bit into mythology at this point. Schmidtie has other problems, a house that may turn into a money pit, a firm that is trying to renegotiate his retirement settlement, a smelly, filthy homeless man who is stalking him, and a psychiatrist, the mother of Jon Riker, who is trying to psycho-analysis him and seduce him at the same time. I really liked the book, despite the poorly chosen endorsements on the back cover. I liked Schmidt. I liked Begley's writing style. The book left me thinking about some of the great Cheever short stories I read last year. I will certainly read the second book Schmidt Delivered. I do have one last bone to pick with Begley which is the reason this book received a four star rating instead of a five star rating. Begley does not use quotation marks. It did take me a while to adjust, certainly required me to reread sections to determine if Schmidt said a comment or just thought it. In the back of the paperback edition they have an interview with Begley and he is asked about this missing punctuation. "It comes from my particular dislike of the way quotation marks look on a page. I think they look like little bugs." Seriously Begley? Little bugs? You do need some time with a psychiatrist, Jewish or otherwise. Click to see my Schmidt Delivered Review
The setting here is very, one might say supremely, bourgeois. Albert Schmidt, newly widowed, recently retired from a cutthroat Manhattan law firm, is fully fitted out with all the appurtenances of great material success. The circles in which he moves are peopled by the very rich and often famous. Six months after his wife's death his daughter, Charlotte, announces her engagement to Jon Riker. Riker, a former mentee, is disliked by Schmidt for numerous reasons. One reason being that he's a Jew. More objectionable to Schmidt, however, is that Riker has knowingly undermined him at the firm where he no longer works. Schmidt has lost his beloved wife, Mary, and now he is losing his daughter to a grasping young man devoid of the romantic sensibilities that he most cherishes. Schmidt feels himself to be a radical truth teller, yet much of his "commentary" he must repress if he is not to alienate those around him. One wonders how he has done it. One wonders how he has managed to be successful. Interpersonal relationships are so key to the high-brow kind of law he once practiced, yet they also annoy him terribly. The answer of course is Mary. Often we hear Schmidt say something like "Mary would have managed it so well." And our sense is of his wife coming along behind him setting matters to rights. There are improbable sex scenes--two sixty-plus men with 20 year old girlfriends--yet somehow Begley carries them off. Certainly, the fact that both men are very rich makes the liaisons more plausible than they would be otherwise. I generally abhor all descriptions of coitus in print. Philip Roth's Sabbath's Theater is to my mind full of such repulsive writing. Begley's method however is defter and almost without vulgarity. I haven't quite figured out how he does it. I suppose one could say that Begley writes about territory already covered by John Updike and Philip Roth. Yet Begley's style is distinctive, nothing like the other two writers, and his milieu is far more genteel. I absolutely adore this novel. It's my favorite of all the Begley novels I've read so far, including Wartime Lies, which is saying a lot.
What do You think about About Schmidt (1997)?
I am rating this as one of my best for some quotes that i loved in it. I didn't expect to like this book very much but i was amazed at how Louis Begley could help the reader understand what goes on in the mind of a man who has retired from work and life.I have to note here that the book has nothing to do with the movie starring Jack Nickolson. Well the movie is based on this novel but there are very different to the point that I would not connect them in any way. If anyone avoided this book because of the movie they would be missing out.A very simple story and a good inside into the human soul.
—Constandinos
I'm not going to rehash the plot, because it's right there by the book. Honestly, the plot isn't worth mentioning as there just didn't seem to be one. Yes, Schmidt is a recent widow with depression to deal with, but the guy is a walking pity party start to finish. I could not stand him. I had to force myself to finish reading because I was waiting for the emotional growth I felt had to be coming after all that build up and pointing out his character flaws. I thought there would be some revelation for him. He would recognize the error of his ways. Nope.Schmidt complains that he doesn't have enough money. Pages and pages of detailed tax, real estate, salary and retirement information complaining about how bad his financial situation is. Not only was it boringly detailed, but it made me angry. The guy was a millionaire, and yet in Schmidt fashion could only see the half empty glass. What he didn't have. This despite his spending $10,000 on a whim vacation. In 1992 no less! This had nothing to do with his depression. This was Schmidt. The entire novel was a list of who had mor ethan Schmidt but didn't deserve it. Who had more friends. Poor Schmidt. All his friends dropped him after his wife's death. Of course they did! The guy was a walking downer!By books end, Schmidt's circumstances change, but not Schmidt himself. Since this was such an in depth, self-reflective book, I wanted him to change. I wasn't even left with the impression he was ever going to. Schmidt's never ending pity party will go on and on. Until he dies. I'm glad I won't be reading about it.
—Kandice
I'm not sure I've ever read a book like this before. Not necessarily because of anything Begley did, at least not that I can see, but more something I experienced. I liked reading this book, but I really have no idea why. There's usually something I can point to, some characterization or descriptions or cadence, but I can't really point to any. I can say that something about his prose is sort of lilting and soporific, and maybe that is what drew me to it, but beyond that, I'll be damned if I can find a positive thing to say.The characters were flat, boring, and pretty much all the same. Every character seemed to be a self-indulgent, narcissistic asshole that couldn't see past their own opinions and blind-sighted prejudices. Furthermore, except for Schmidt, I have a hard time identifying any real main characters. The first of the novel is far more interested with Schmidt's deceased wife than, well, any of the rest of it. The novel seems to promptly forget this story element a little before it forgets that he has a daughter that was the apparent central conflict of the novel. However, for being the central conflict, his daughter does a remarkable job of simply not existing. Everything is phone calls, letters, or go-betweens of other individuals. And when his daughter does happen to appear, she is almost always talked about, then glossed over and disappears. The one thing I can say about his daughter is that she is the only character, and I think I'm correct in this, that isn't portrayed as being an immoral philanderer who casually disregards any emotions or semblances of feelings in pursuit of what appears to be mindless sex with zero emotion, although she is still a snotty bitch.Miraculously, every character cheats on their spouse, boyfriend, etc., and all of them are hopelessly devoid of feeling even the slightest bit bad about it. In fact, I'm a little confused why these characters have such roller-coaster sex lives other than for the sheer drama and sexiness of it. I hardly feel that women constantly swoon for retired, alcoholic, lawyers, but it certainly seems to be the case (no wonder I've been striking out). There's also a remarkably creepy lolita complex going on with Schmidt that may transfer to feelings for his daughter. It's all extremely unsettling, but the book does a good job of completely ignoring the creepiness of pretty much every character.In fact, the appeal of the book may be in that it manages to completely dispassionately examine and follow Schmidt, who is shitty human being, as he interacts with his social circles and family - which is full of nothing but shitty human beings. It may be the most neutral voice I've ever read in a novel, which is hard considering how easy it would be to criticize everything that these characters do.Probably the largest problem with the book is that it seems to have no idea what it is doing. The story wanders from abstract and hard-to-follow diatribes about walking into the ocean and committing suicide over a deceased wife to exploring the nuances of screwing a clearly mentally scarred and screwed up young waitress who is also screwing some emotionally unstable craftsman. How the latter comes to dominate the novel I really have no idea, especially considering between these two points is a conflict with his daughter and her new life and finances.By the end of the novel, Begley rather lazily Deus ex machinas the few conflicts he feels he should address. Schimdt, however, doesn't seem to really have found a purpose, his relationship with his daughter is still awful (and she is still a terrible bitch), and none of the characters have changed. There is zero development from start to finish. Circumstances change, but everything that has gone between is essentially meaningless because the characters are exactly the same.I suppose that's probably the point, as this is clearly more modernist/realist than it is anything else (why no quotation marks other than obfuscation?), but it's also rather boring and disappointing. Life, actually, is about change. I'm not so interested in the idiots that refuse to accept it. In fact, I spend most of my time avoiding those people. The crafting of the world, the characters, the pacing, and the conflicts, are all lazy, sloppy, and uninspiring, but I'll be damned if I didn't enjoy reading it (well, parts of it). What voodoo magic did you weave Begley?
—Nicholas Armstrong
